Friday, January 16, 2015

Panchtatva: A Musical Celebration of 5 Elements of Life (Courtesy: New Indian Express)

Some of the most respected artistes from the arena of Indian
classical music are going to sparkle at Panchtatva, and you can do more
than just hear them. It’s to be a visual treat too, organisers say.
The
event, organised by Art and Artistes which produces proprietary Indian
music content, will have the renowned artistes performing to a scripted
performance themed on the five elements.

Durga Jasraj,
founder-director of Art and Artistes, says that the concert will begin
with aakash and Rattan Mohan Sharma and Ankita Joshi and go on to vaayu
(Hariprasad Chaurasia on the flute), agni (percussionists Selva Ganesh,
Taufiq Qureshi, Ojas Adhiya and Sridhar Parthasarthy), Jal (U Rajesh)
and Prithvi (Rashid Khan).

“This is the order of the five
elements. For wind, finally everyone plays together to celebrate life.
Everyone has a very defined role to play, and they are all very
comfortable in their own skins, so it’s a pleasure to watch Pandit
Hariprasad Chaurasia doing back up while the percussionists play. He
says, without wind you can’t have fire, and I agree,” says Durga.

She
adds that her partner Neeraj Jaitley has put months of work into the
design of the event. “We even have recorded sounds of flowing water, of
wind,” she says.

This is Panchtatva’s first India tour, and Durga
is surprised that those who watched the Mumbai show have turned up at
Hyderabad and Ahmedabad too. “A group of students from Bengaluru had
come for one of them. They’ve come back and are promoting the event in
their colleges, on social media.” And she’s thrilled about it.
She’s
looking forward to the Bengaluru event. “The audience are connoisseurs
of both Karnatak and Hindustani music,” she says, adding that a previous
show organised by Art and Artistes a few years ago had such an
overwhelming response that bouncers were required at the entrances.
“That day, I said, one of my dreams has come true -- to see an Indian
classical music pull such crowds that you needed bouncers.” So the city
is special to her, and she’s looking to see how the audience she
respects gauges the first Panchtatva show in the city.

Panchtatva
at Lakeside Amphitheatre, Orion Mall, on Sunday (January 18) at 6.30
pm. Entry is free and on first-come-first-serve basis.